Application of Chapter Two to a Museum Setting

So, how can all of this apply to a museum setting? As educators within these cultural institutions, our theory of experience revolves around the visitor and what they personally bring to the table each time they walk into our buildings. We know they are not empty vessels; on the contrary, they carry with them a knowledge molded by their own experiences with the world. Surely, when they step inside our doors, they bring with them this molded knowledge (their self, really). As they interact with the information/experiences presented to them, this developed self determines their experience in that given moment in time. In other words, our visitors bring knowledge to our museums, they let that knowledge be affected or affect the knowledge we present to them, and they leave changed in some way. By this we know that Dewey is correct, an educational experience can lead to future experiences (just through interaction); however, I would place the emphasis on the individual rather than the experience. To me, the reason why experiences can be educational is not necessarily because of the characteristics of the experiences had but the characteristics of the individuals within those experiences (i.e. decision-making, agency, etc.). I believe an individual's agency to choose how to be influenced almost always overrides what an experience has to offer...at least in the end. Food for thought.

I also see parallels between the traditional education that Dewey describes and the experience many individuals have with art museums. Dewey states, “many [have] lost the impetus to learn because of the way in which learning was experienced by them” (26). How true of our traditional art museums! Many individuals have become disheartened by the way they experience (or DON’T) experience learning within art museums, and, as a result, they become immune to what they could learn from them if they looked past the idea that “the museum knows all.” This is where another one of Dewey’s theories comes into play. There is a delicate balance between organization (here: museum authority) and imagination (here: visitor input) (31). Too much of one could stifle the other.